Now that Christmas is around the corner, and you might be wondering what you should get the little ones....what toy will make them say WOW! and create lifetime memories....I'd like to share with you the toys I shared with my younger brother and sister. Clothespins. That's right. Plain old wooden clothespins.
I found a box of clothespins in my mom's stuff when we were cleaning out her apartment. I don't think these were the actual ones we played with when we were kids, but it sure brought back memories. It's funny how we all grew up to be anti-war.....that we mostly played army with the clothespins. Sometimes we played cops and robbers, and sometimes cowboys and Indians....but mostly it was army. We'd build a small fort in our backyard, probably out of other household items, like cans of vegetables, forks, combs, or pots and pans. Then we'd station our army men (the clothespins) around the fort and fight battles. We would spend hours playing this way.
My family didn't have a lot of money, so we didn't have many toys. My older sister had one doll with a painted on dress. A doll she cherished. We love these memories. I guess in a way, I'm sort of glad we didn't have much. It's made me appreciate the things I do have.
Every year I make a gift for my great-niece who lives in Florida. Her mother told me she loves the homemade gifts, so I'll continue until she's too old to appreciate them. I made her something really special this year....and I promise, it's not made out of clothespins.
Clothespins made great rubber band guns too. Here's how: you go outside and rummage around until you find a stick or old piece of wood. Then you find an old nail laying around or take one out of the wall that your mom was using to hang a picture. You use a rock as a hammer to hammer the nail into the end of the wood. Place the clothespin (that you took off the clothesline) about 4 to 5 inches from the nail and affix it to the stick with any ole thing you can find, such as your mom's clothesline, or your brothers shoe laces. To operate your rubber band gun, simply put one end of the rubber band around the nail and the other end in the clothespin (you need the type of clothspin that has a spring). To shoot, simply open the clothespin and watch the rubber band fly! No one ever lost an eye, don't ask me how. Now, if you want instructions on to use buttons and an old suitcase to build a fort that shoots missiles at clothespin army men, just let me know...those were the days! Even though combat was my favorite show, I too AM against war! Maybe we got our fill while we were young.
ReplyDeleteAnd I just found out that I used to like to watch wrestling on TV when I was younger. What was that all about?!?!
ReplyDeleteI used to watch wrestling with my grandparents on Saturday nights, right after Lawrence Welk. I loved it. There was this one guy called "The Mask." How cool is that!?! I thought at one time I might want to follow in his footsteps until I realized that I might get hurt.
ReplyDeleteYou can make great reindeer ornaments out of them!
ReplyDeleteWho needed Barbie or Bratz dolls, Mom's perfume and cosmetic bottles made great stand in's as dolls, and the bookcase worked just fine as a dollhouse. I never did make those clothespin reindeer ornaments...
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